Not Easy Bein' Green
In honor of Earth Day, I'd like to reflect on the environment and what I've done in the past year to help reduce energy and waste.
Let's all pause for the cause, shall we?
Good.
I'm glad we shared that together. I feel so close to you now.
OKAY!!! So, gathering inspiration from a passionate SAVE THE WORLD ex-boyfriend, various articles and books and of course, my crunchy chicken cousin Deanna, over the past year and a half or so, I've tried to do as much as I can to "greenify" my life. It ain't easy in NYC but let's see where I'm at.
I'm going to make a list now because nothing pleases me more. Except maybe crossing off things on lists. Or putting things on a list just so I can cross them off. But, I'll spare you that for now.
Things I've Done
by Laura Elizabeth, Age 25
1. Gone vegan
2. Frequent the farmer's market when possible
3. Gotten on the waiting list for the Astoria CSA
4. Use a diva cup
5. Replaced lightbulbs in apartment with CFL's
6. Routinely bring canvas bags to grocery store
7. Decline extra bags, packaging, etc. at other stores
8. Cut down on wasteful, spontaneous spending
9. Switched to 100% recycled paper towels and toilet paper
10. Continue to avoid to buy produce that is out of season
11. Use public transportation
12. Avoid paper products, especially at work. Use own coffee mug and utensils
13. Unplug cellphone charges and other devices when not in use
That's a few things off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more. But even if I kept brainstorming, my list would still pale in comparison. The people that frequent Deanna's blog are so committed. And sometimes I feel like yes, if I was raising my family in a suburb and had the ability to have a garden and a washer and dryer on hand, I could do a lot more. I could give up toilet paper completely or lower my thermostat in the winter but in New York City it's incredibly difficult. I have to walk to the laundromat, I have no control over the temperature in my apartment, I can't compost or grow my own herbs.
And then there's dudes like this who live in New York City and COMPOST THEIR OWN POOP and I'm all, how can I complain!? Why aren't I doing enough!? I'm such an asshole! And also, will I get dumped if I compost my own poop?
There's people all over the place making their own butter and riding their bicycles and families of six surviving on a grocery budget of less than $100 a week, which is the equivalent of mine. It boggles my mind and I feel like such a jerk. If they can do it so easily, why can't I?
So, okay. I guess I should be happy that I'm aware and that I do what I can. The problem is that it never feels like enough. Especially when my cousin goes batshit crazy and posts a challenge like this. It's probably true. It's not that I CAN'T do these things, it's that I don't want to. But man, I KIND OF WANT TO. Don't I? But...give up plastic? My freaking organic bananas come WRAPPED IN TEN THOUSAND PIECES OF IT.
I guess I have a hard time reconciling the two parts of me--the crunchy granola vegan and the New York City girl who yes, damnit, likes to go shopping and likes to eat at restaurants and why do I feel guilty for being that girl? I suppose because others do so much more? It kind of feels excessive and wrong.
I mean, it could be worse. I still see people piling their groceries into mounds and mounds of plastic bags and I want to scream. Hell, I think even my parents still use plastic grocery bags. But that's not because they're ignorant. That's because my mom openly admitted to me that she doesn't believe in global warming.
Incidentally, when she told me that over the phone, my heart stopped beating for almost an hour. You're all lucky I'm still alive.
So! Okay! Let's wrap it up! I do a lot but I need to do more! And I will pledge to do more! If anyone has examples or suggestions of other changes I can make, I would be eternally grateful. I'm frustrated that so many people are wasteful and unaware but I'm also amazingly impressed with the amount of people I meet that are working towards something bigger. I really think that the changes I make every day DO make a difference even when I'm told that they don't and that I'm just one person and that I don't matter.
I'm here to tell you that I DO MATTER, damnit! Hell, I have my own blog. Doesn't that make me famous?
YES IT DOES. TO ALL THREE OF YOU READING THIS.
Happy Earth weekend!
Let's all pause for the cause, shall we?
Good.
I'm glad we shared that together. I feel so close to you now.
OKAY!!! So, gathering inspiration from a passionate SAVE THE WORLD ex-boyfriend, various articles and books and of course, my crunchy chicken cousin Deanna, over the past year and a half or so, I've tried to do as much as I can to "greenify" my life. It ain't easy in NYC but let's see where I'm at.
I'm going to make a list now because nothing pleases me more. Except maybe crossing off things on lists. Or putting things on a list just so I can cross them off. But, I'll spare you that for now.
Things I've Done
by Laura Elizabeth, Age 25
1. Gone vegan
2. Frequent the farmer's market when possible
3. Gotten on the waiting list for the Astoria CSA
4. Use a diva cup
5. Replaced lightbulbs in apartment with CFL's
6. Routinely bring canvas bags to grocery store
7. Decline extra bags, packaging, etc. at other stores
8. Cut down on wasteful, spontaneous spending
9. Switched to 100% recycled paper towels and toilet paper
10. Continue to avoid to buy produce that is out of season
11. Use public transportation
12. Avoid paper products, especially at work. Use own coffee mug and utensils
13. Unplug cellphone charges and other devices when not in use
That's a few things off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more. But even if I kept brainstorming, my list would still pale in comparison. The people that frequent Deanna's blog are so committed. And sometimes I feel like yes, if I was raising my family in a suburb and had the ability to have a garden and a washer and dryer on hand, I could do a lot more. I could give up toilet paper completely or lower my thermostat in the winter but in New York City it's incredibly difficult. I have to walk to the laundromat, I have no control over the temperature in my apartment, I can't compost or grow my own herbs.
And then there's dudes like this who live in New York City and COMPOST THEIR OWN POOP and I'm all, how can I complain!? Why aren't I doing enough!? I'm such an asshole! And also, will I get dumped if I compost my own poop?
There's people all over the place making their own butter and riding their bicycles and families of six surviving on a grocery budget of less than $100 a week, which is the equivalent of mine. It boggles my mind and I feel like such a jerk. If they can do it so easily, why can't I?
So, okay. I guess I should be happy that I'm aware and that I do what I can. The problem is that it never feels like enough. Especially when my cousin goes batshit crazy and posts a challenge like this. It's probably true. It's not that I CAN'T do these things, it's that I don't want to. But man, I KIND OF WANT TO. Don't I? But...give up plastic? My freaking organic bananas come WRAPPED IN TEN THOUSAND PIECES OF IT.
I guess I have a hard time reconciling the two parts of me--the crunchy granola vegan and the New York City girl who yes, damnit, likes to go shopping and likes to eat at restaurants and why do I feel guilty for being that girl? I suppose because others do so much more? It kind of feels excessive and wrong.
I mean, it could be worse. I still see people piling their groceries into mounds and mounds of plastic bags and I want to scream. Hell, I think even my parents still use plastic grocery bags. But that's not because they're ignorant. That's because my mom openly admitted to me that she doesn't believe in global warming.
Incidentally, when she told me that over the phone, my heart stopped beating for almost an hour. You're all lucky I'm still alive.
So! Okay! Let's wrap it up! I do a lot but I need to do more! And I will pledge to do more! If anyone has examples or suggestions of other changes I can make, I would be eternally grateful. I'm frustrated that so many people are wasteful and unaware but I'm also amazingly impressed with the amount of people I meet that are working towards something bigger. I really think that the changes I make every day DO make a difference even when I'm told that they don't and that I'm just one person and that I don't matter.
I'm here to tell you that I DO MATTER, damnit! Hell, I have my own blog. Doesn't that make me famous?
YES IT DOES. TO ALL THREE OF YOU READING THIS.
Happy Earth weekend!
10 Comments:
I'm about to tell you something that I hope will make you feel a lot better about your own self! No Impact Man has said on his blog that he doesn't actually compost his own poop. They put that on his header before they realized that it wasn't going to be a feasible change for him to make while living in a condo in New York City. So there you have it. Now, why they haven't changed that header I don't know...
Oh! That makes me feel so much better!! I wonder, does he compost anything? Food scraps, etc.? Because I'd really like to know how one can do it living in this town but I haven't figured it out and I'm sure I'd attract a lovely amount of flies to my apartment...
Okay, this is Mom's turn. I was GREEN even before you were born! AND my green eyes don't count. Who used cloth diapers? Who used washcloths and rags for washing self, others and cleaning the house? Who didn't use paper towels AT ALL for years and even now uses them sparingly?
You don't remember the pile of old towels and washcloths? I didn't even use sponges most of the time.
Who puts the sponge we do use in the dishwasher to clean it rather than toss it and get another one when it's a bit smelly? Who uses dishes, glasses and coffee cups and rarely uses paper plates or paper or plastic paper cups. WHO brings the plastic bags to thrift shops and other places for them to use? Who puts her lunch in a small paper shopping bag until it is falling apart rather than use lunch bags.
Here's a childhood question: Who would ask you to bring home your paper lunch bag and not throw it out so it could be reused?
Who used a Thermos - ah ha, do you even know what that is? - in elementary school and small plastic vials of chocolate milk mix to put in the milk containers we bought?
Who doesn't buy much unless it's on sale? Huh? Huh? I have had a global mindset for YEARS!
So, there ya go! I have been living the green dream for years. AND your grandmother was the scrap paper QUEEN!
Uh, no chemicals on the lawn? Only perennial flowers that need little water?
Another childhood tidbit: what did we cover the textbooks in? Paper bags, the ones your momma STILL asks for at the grocery store even though they hide them! There were few times we used those glossy ones the schools would give out. Ha, not us!
And all those years of frugal living? Can I make a meal outta nuthin' or what?
So, need I go on???? Thank you for allowing me to vent and set the record straight.
That is my contribution and I am no Earth Day slouch.
While I may not advocate completely about global warming, I have been living the Green Dream for years! I am old enough to know there will be another movement that will perk up interest and then slowly fade away after awhile right after some rock group gets together for a "Global Warming" Concert any day now. Remember "Feed the World"?
It's the consistent plugging along knowing you are trying your best that will improve the world. Giving the money that is saved can to all those countries and people who have so little rather than just pinching pennies for ourselves will really make a difference.
Ah, I love when I get to preach coz as a woman in the Catholic Church it doesn't happen very often.
Here's to green and I quote good ol' Kermit the Frog, "It ain't easy being green."
Thank you to all the enviromentally conscious people. A better world is on its way.
First off, are those tomatoe slices on the eyes? And if so why? It sounds as if you are doing quite greenly and mom sure told you didn't she? Mom, no, next thing will not be another rock band. It will be extinction for at least most of the world's mammals, but thanks for asking for paper..
Suggestions-you asked for suggestions? I don't recall you saying that you were doing much wih water conservation. Gray water, from handwashing, dish washing and water-running while waiting for it to get hot, works great for flushing toilets. It takes almost no time and it saves a LOT of water.
Also, if there is anywhere, any vacant lot where you can dig a little hole and dump your veggie scraps, VOILA. No flies, no smell. Isn't that what Central Park is for, fer crissakes?
Finally, yo mama is Cat'lic? No wonder you are agonizing so! Stop it!! You are doing great.
MOM.
I love you.
*INSERTS FOOT IN MOUTH*
I take back everything I said. Plus also, make me pancakes when I come home on Sunday?
Organic free range pancakes?
OKAY THANKS!
Big Bear --
Thank you! I will look into a place to bury? my food scraps and also the water element of my waste! And yes, Catholic guilt comes w/ the territory around here!
ok, so I know that you wrote a lot of other stuff in your post, but I CAN'T get past the fact that you can not control the temp. in your OWN apartment?! I am just curious about that, how does that work? Do you pay for electricity and or gas? I just haven't lived anywhere where I couldn't, info please.
I pay for electricity and the gas I use to cook but we do not pay for the heat. My landlord lives on the floor below us and controls the heat in the winter. To his credit, he keeps it pretty low. To my chagrin, my windows need to be insulated so in the winter time, my room in particular is frigid since most of the heat escapes out my crappy windows.
We can control the temperature in the summer by putting in our individual air conditioners though I'm going to see how long we can last without. Last summer we made it almost into July, which, for a NYC apartment on the 3rd floor is miraculous.
And naturally, we only use the AC if the temperature outside is above a certain degree and only if we are home or trying to get to sleep, etc.
thanks for the info, its not as bad as I envisioned.
thanks for the info, its not as bad as I envisioned.
oops, didn't meant to send that twice!
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